Cut It Off

In my life, I’ve had a problem falling for guys who make me work for their attention like I don’t deserve it. It’s been a battle, realizing this and fighting against it. I wish I could say that this wasn’t the case, but it is. A few weeks ago, I decided that I would read the book of Joshua, then I got to chapter 5, and in this chapter it talks about circumcision. I know, not a fun topic.

In bible times, men were circumcised as a religious tradition. In Joshua, he’s wandering around with the generation of people who were born in the desert after their “escape” from slavery in Egypt.

“At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilga to this day.” Joshua 5:2-7

In chapter 5 The Lord tells Joshua that all the guys born in the desert need to be circumcised before they can enter the promised land, since they kinda let that tradition slide in their wandering. Sounds like a major bummer to me, I bet all the dudes reading this are cringing a bit. Nobody wants to have anything cut off of them, that’s just not usually a fun process.

When I first read that, I swept it under the rug because I’m a girl and that doesn’t really apply to my life, then a few weeks ago Christine Caine spoke at my church and talked about this exact thing. She said that that it basically signifies that they had to have a cutting away of the old to start the new season of their life.

In Romans 2, Paul mentions this same analogy again; “29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” But, let’s get back to what I was originally talking about, because I’m sure you’re probably curious about what that has to do with circumcision.

So, guys who make me work for their attention and make me believe I’m not worthy of it; that’s a low key form of emotional abuse, it’s obviously not a healthy thing for the heart to endure. I kept making excuses for this and letting these guys back in my life even after I realized what was going on. Not in relationships, but friendships, not realizing that I was still sinking back into my same dangerous cycles.

I talked to a few dear friends, did a lot of praying, and concluded that I needed to have metaphorical circumcision of the heart in order to move on and be healthy. I needed to cut it off, and cut it out. In order to be healthy and go where God wants to take me, I had to cut things off. Now, I’m healing. Joshua 5 even talks about that, the people had to wait till they were healed before they could move to the next season completely.

Granted, this analogy isn’t super sensical, but it’s so accurate. This is something all of us have to go through. A cutting away, in many areas of life. It’s healthy. It’s good for us. It’s uncomfortable, and not a fun process, but it’s so beneficial in the long run.

Anyway, enough of the circumcision talk, sometimes we’ve gotta do hard stuff to get better. You can do it. I believe in you.